A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, UNIFIED SILLA PERIOD (668-935 AD), CIRCA LATE 9TH - EARLY 10TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published:
1. Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 118, no. 215
2. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Montréal, 2016, exhibition album, p. 34.

Exhibited:
1. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Montréal, 17 November 2016-19 March 2017.
2. Kimbell Art Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Fort Worth, Texas, 4 March-19 August 2018.

Expert’s note:
By the 8th and 9th centuries, the Silla kingdom in Korea stood as one of the most sophisticated Buddhist states in East Asia, sustained by deep religious and artistic ties to Tang China. Pilgrimage routes carried Silla monks to Tang monasteries, while scriptures, ritual manuals, and gilt-bronze icons flowed back across the Yellow Sea, resulting in a shared visual language of devotion. Yet both Silla and Tang would soon enter periods of decline, with the Tang witnessing waves of Buddhist persecution that ruptured long-standing institutional networks.

As power shifted to the Song, the Khitan-led Liao, and the Dali kingdom in Yunnan, Buddhist sculpture and sacred texts continued to circulate across regions, often via itinerant monks and the increasingly widespread use of woodblock printing. These new powers inherited the visual and ritual paradigms of the Tang-Silla era, and gilt-bronze Buddha images retained a remarkably consistent vocabulary. Goryeo, which succeeded Silla in the early to mid-10th century, positioned itself as the rightful heir to Tang Buddhist civilization, dispatching monks to Song China and preserving Buddhist orthodoxy through grand printing projects and temple patronage.

Within this regional matrix, the stylistic affinities among Buddhist bronzes from Silla, Liao, Song, and Dali reflect not imitation but a common adherence to a sacred sculptural idiom that transcended court boundaries and endured across dynastic change.

Compare a gilt bronze figure of Buddha Vairocana, 20.3 cm high, dated to the Tang dynasty, early 8^th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 43.24.3. Compare a gilt bronze figure of Buddha Amitabha, 23 cm high, attributed to the Dali kingdom and dated to the mid-1000s, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 1942.1082. Compare a gilt bronze figure of Buddha Vairocana, 24.5 cm high, dated to the Liao dynasty, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S2006.7.

Korea. Finely cast, the figure seated in dhyanasana, the right hand lowered in bhumisparsha mudra and the left raised above the lap in dhyana mudra, dressed in a close-fitting monastic robe draped over his left shoulder and falling in voluminous, rhythmic folds over his limbs. The serene face with heavy-lidded downcast eyes below gently arched brows centered by an urna, his full lips forming a calm smile, and flanked by elongated earlobes. The hair arranged in tight snail-shell curls over the gently domed ushnisha.

Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, casting irregularities, obvious losses, signs of weathering and erosion, significant corrosion, and expected rubbing to gilt. Verdigris and malachite encrustations.
Alloy Composition and Patina: The four-metal alloy composition (circa 77% copper, 10% zinc, 8.5% tin, 4.5% lead) represents sophisticated 10th-century metallurgy characteristic of both Korean late Silla and early Goryeo periods as well as Yunnan Dali Kingdom casting technologies for Buddhist sculptures in the 10th century. This complex brass-bronze-lead combination demonstrates advanced smelting techniques developed in both regions during this period. Distinct zinc sulfide inclusions with microscopic traces of aluminum and manganese are authentic corrosion products consistent with aged brass alloys, confirming the antiquity of the piece.

Weight: 1,166.1 g
Dimensions: Height 16.4 cm

Literature comparison:
Compare a related but larger and slightly later gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Amitabha, dated to the Goryeo dynasty, in the National Museum of Korea, accession number Deoksu 71.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 21 September 2007, lot 16
Estimate: USD 100,000 or approx. EUR 132,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An important small gilt-bronze figure of seated Buddha, Korea, Unified Silla period
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and similar facial expression.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s Paris, 11 December 2020, lot 28
Price: EUR 2,674,500 or approx. EUR 3,092,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An exceptional gilt-copper alloy figure of Buddha Maravijaya, Dali Kingdom, Yunnan Province, 12th century
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling, manner of casting, and gilding, with similar pose, facial features and expression, and robe. Note the different size (30.7 cm).